Philosophy And Development Of Education In Malaysia

1. What is philosophy? The term philosophy means, "love of wisdom.” It does not answer the question; it questions the answer. Philosophy is not something to be studied about; it is rather something to do, a way of life, a way of asking questions about the most general and basic problems of human experience, meaning and relationship. Philosophy is also the practice of making and assessing arguments. An argument is a set of statements (called premises) that work together to support another statement (the conclusion). 2. Why do we study philosophy? Making and assessing arguments can help us get closer to understanding the truth. At the very least, the process helps make us aware of our reasons for believing what we believe, and it enables us to use reason when we discuss our beliefs with other people. With the help from the lecturer, we will able to learn to make strong arguments and to assess the arguments other people make. 3. Explain using examples, the following as major areas of philosophy. 3.1 Metaphysics: Metaphysics is the study of the nature of reality, of what exists in the world, what it is like, and how it is ordered. In metaphysics philosophers wrestle with such questions as: •

What is truth?

•

Do people have minds? If so, how is the mind related to the body?

•

Do people have free wills?

3.2 Epistemology: Epistemology is the study of knowledge. It is primarily concerned with what we can know about the world and how we can know it. Typical examples of concern in epistemology are: •

What is knowledge?

•

How do we know we know?

•

Is knowledge given?

3.3 Axiology: Axiology is the study of value or quality. It is often thought to include ethics and aesthetics. •

Ethics:

•

Aesthetics:

What is the good life? The criteria for right conduct? What is beauty? The criteria for the beautiful?

4. Define educational philosophy. How does it differ from general philosophy? The educational philosophy is the study of the purpose, process, nature and ideals of education. This can be within the context of education as a societal institution or more broadly as the process of human existential growth, i.e. how it is that our understanding of the world is continually transformed via physical, emotional, cognitive and transcendental experiences. It can naturally be considered a branch of both philosophy and education. General Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing these questions (such as mysticism or mythology) by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on reasoned argument. 5. Explain the following with regards to educational philosophy 5.1 Inspirational purpose: systematic reasoning about the nature of reality as a whole (in distinction from a scientific investigation about some particular aspect of reality) in order to understand from some overall perspective the meaning, order, structure or pattern of totality. 5.2 Analytical purpose: examination and clarification of the various meaning of basic concept (such as cause, being, mind, humanness’, freedom, justice, equality) as a basic for speculative critical and prescriptive or normative philosophy.

5.3 Prescriptive purpose: identification or discovery, prescription and substantiation of a consistent, comprehensive set of basic beliefs and principles by which to evaluate individual human conduct (ethics) social relationships and arrangement and institutions (social philosophy) , goals and values (axiology) and art (aesthetics). 5.4 Investigation and inquiry purpose: the evaluation or assessment of social relationships, human conduct and experience in general, according to some basic set of substantive norms or ideas in order to identify weakness, inadequacies, and injustices to be corrected. 6. “Educational Philosophy as a Theoretical and Practical Study” (E.J. Power). Discuss Philosophers of education are interested in the problem of the relation of theory and practice for several reasons. Mind is not given, it is constructed and achieved. It is believe that communication skills are necessary for both academic and social achievement. It is the responsibility of the teacher to be organized and present an academically sound curriculum that will meet the social and educational needs of students. 7. Describe the following associated with Idealism 7.1 Metaphysic: This is the view that the only reality is the ideal world. A well known exponent of this view was Plato, a philosopher in ancient Greece (428-347 B.C.). Plato believed that the physical world around us is not real; it is constantly changing and thus you can never say what it really is. There is a world of ideas which is a world of unchanging and absolute truth. This is reality for Plato. Does such a world exist independent of human minds? Plato thought it did, and whenever we grasp an idea, or see something with our mind's eye, we are using our mind to conceive of something in the ideal world. Proof from this concept is the moral perfection. We can conceive of a morally perfect person, even though the people we know around us are not morally perfect. So where does someone get this idea of moral perfection? Since it could not have been obtained from the world around us, it

must have come from an ideal world. Platonism has been an extremely influential philosophy down through the centuries. 7.2 Epistemology: To the idealist, knowledge is given fixed, certain, absolute, predetermined and pre-existing prior to human experience. The human mind is the microcosm of the Absolute Mind. All qualities of the Absolute Mind are present in our own minds even though those qualities are limited in the human mind. Brameld says that our minds participate in the cosmic activities just like the atoms participate in the solar system. According to the idealist, an idea is true when it is logically consistent with the given, accepted, organized and unified body of true knowledge. This coherent theory of knowledge has the difficulty of determining the source of the prior, organized and unified body of true knowledge. But man is a rational being and is capable of rational thought. Deductive logic is therefore, of primary importance. 7.3 Axiology: Ethics: the a priori value and ethics are absolute, universal, prescriptive and, therefore unchanging. It is the supreme self which is always the source as well as the goals of values for which we strive. Aesthetics: Only which is good can be beautiful. Artistic process is to reflect the Ideal. The process is not just to copy nature, but to capture inner beauty behind appearance, to fill the landscape with optimism or hope or to use the medium as a moral. Idealist’s art depict things not as they are, but as they could be. 8. Educational Implications if Idealism 8.1 Define idealism’s educational goals Since the idealist believes that the individual leaner is part of a universal mind, the aim of education is to unfold some latent potential of the individual leaner. Through dialectic, education thus becomes a process of aligning the pupil’s mind so as to harmonize with the ultimately perfect mind. Education is also a process of self realization.

8.2 What is the role of an idealist school? The idealist believes that the school is not only an agency of society and the mind of society; it is also a value realizing institution. Hence the function of the school is to transmit to the individual learner that organized body of accepted values that are the core of Western civilization. 8.3 Analyze the rationale used by idealists in organizing the curriculum Essentialist especially realism has the difficulty of determining what is essential in the curriculum, “ Generative subject” that have “generative power” should be included but this “generative subject” change with time and circumstance. Curriculum as an ideal, rather than as the concrete reality of the deeds, and experiences that form people to who and what they are. A crucial aspect for learning, understanding by stimulating the imagination, is absent in the so-called "neo-conservative curriculum" that stresses the ineffective aspects of knowledge amounts and of logic-mathematical thinking 8.4 What is the attitudinal dimension of Idealist Education? To show good example in character such the brave Hang Tuah who is loyal to the sultan, to teach us to be idealistic to imitate the ideal or a good person Pleasure, in the inclusive usages most important in moral psychology, ethical theory, and the studies of mind, includes all joy and gladness 9. Identify the basic elements of Realism. Compare and contrast them with idealism. The basic principle of realism is that matter is the ultimate reality. Reality is just regardless of human plans or purposes. The essence of difference between realism and idealism is the coherence theory of truth. It is the ideal coherence of beliefs with each other and with our experiences as those experiences are themselves represented in our belief system. Well realism can be distinct from idealism. Realism supports the

view that there is a 'thing in itself'. A thing that exists fixed. For instance Heidegger is a realist. Things appear in a certain way to the subject and the subject discovers some expects of what the thing is and others stay hidden. Behind the thing as it appears however lies the thing as it is. For an idealist, there is not anything else than the relation between the mind and the world. Things are shaped within that relation. 10. Define Realist dualism and examine its educational implications Keep in mind the dualism between the mental and the real. Theories are always mental. Facts are real: they involve events happening in a substantive, non-mental reality. Realist dualism is the theory that all knowledge is mediated through ideas or representations or essences—call them what you will. In this dualism, we do not, as anti-dualists keep insisting, completely separate the mind and its ideas from nature; we merely distinguish them, noting the importance differences between the idea and its object. Realism’s commitment to dualism, then, is open-ended. It does not contend that there are but two principle modes of existence. There may be, for all we know, hundreds of such modes. Reality is not one massive homogeneous blob. 11. Educational implications of Realism 11.1 Define Realism’s educational goal. The realist’s aim of education is to transmit to the individual leaner an organized body of knowledge that has stood the test of time and that organized body of knowledge is found in the traditional subject matter. Realists aim in understanding the material world through inquiry, basic essential knowledge with a no-nonsense approach, a need to know the world in order to ensure survival and the study of science and the scientific method.

11.2 What is the realist conception of the school? The realist conception of the school is that the school is not only an agency of society and the mind of society; it is also a value realizing institutions. Hence the function of school is to transmit to the individual leaner that organized body of accepted values that are the core of western civilization. 11.3 Describe Realist Curriculum The curriculum of the realist consists of a common core of subject matters, including skills and accepted values that are essential and must be transmitted to all that come to school. Realism has the difficulty of determining what is essential in the curriculum. “Generative subjects” that have “generative power” should be included, but this “generative subjects” change with time and circumstance. Its curriculum also consist of several characteristic such as practical and useful, physical activity has educational value, attention to the complete person, extensive use of pictures, use of objects in education and highly organized and systematic. Realists believe that the curriculum is best organized according to subject matter - that is, it should be subjectcentered. These subjects should be organized according to the psychological principles of learning, which teach that the subjects should proceed from the simple to the more complex. Science and Mathematics should be emphasized, because the Realist considers these to do the most important area of learning. To encourage desirable learning habits, rewards should be given when required. 11.4 Describe Realist Instructional Method The teaching methods recommended by the Realist are authoritative. The teacher must require that the learner be able to recall, explain, and compare facts; to interpret relationships, and to infer new meanings. Evaluation is an essential aspect of teaching, according to this view. The teacher must use objective methods by evaluating and giving the type of test that lends itself to accurate measurement of the learner's understanding of the essential material. Frequent tests are highly desirable. For motivational purposes, Realists stress that it is important for the teacher always to

reward the success of each learner. When the teacher reports the accomplishments of his learners, he/she reinforces what has been learned. 11.5 Explain the Realist Teacher Leaner Relationship The Realist classroom is teacher-centered; subjects are taught by a teacher who is impersonal and objective, and who knows the subject fully. The teacher must utilize learner’s interest by relating the material to the learner's experiences, and by making the subject matter as concrete as possible. He or she maintains discipline by rewarding efforts and achievements, controlling the attention of the individual, and keeping the learner active. 12. Describe metaphysics, epistemology and axiology in pragmatism Metaphysic: To the pragmatist, reality is the interaction of human beings with their environment. Mind is, therefore, an emergence of the experiential process and in this sense it is learned behaviors. Mind is not given, it is constructed and achieved. Thus, reality is pluralistic, mind, things, material, energies, processes, laws, etc. all these may be considered equally real and to some degree independent of each other. Epistemology: Unlike the idealist who stresses on the primacy of mid through deductive logic and the realist who emphasizes on the primacy of body through inductive logic, the epistemological thrust of pragmatic theory is experiencing using the skills of both inductive and deductive logic. Experience is the interaction between the human organism and the environment. Meaning is the quality of that interaction. Mind (meaning or idea or knowledge) is not given, but achieved and constructed. Thus to the pragmatist, experience is central. Axiology: the cosmic values of idealism and the mystical natural laws of realism are non-experiential. Pragmatists believe that men are the constructors of their values just as they are the constructors of their truths. These values are therefore, public, tentative, relativistic, dynamic, contextual and experiential. The work of art is really the “working of the work of art in our lives”. This is to say that the work of art is

what the product does with and in experience. Aesthetic taste is therefore originated from what we call public experience. 13. Educational Implications of Pragmatism (Instrumentalism, Progressivism & Experimentalism) 13.1 Explain “Growth as the end of education” To the pragmatist, the process of education is growth and the aim of education is growth. Therefore, growth is defined as that continuous reconstruction of experience which adds new meaning to life and further power to control subsequent experience. This means that the means and ends of education are one and the same. There is no aim of education beyond the process of education growth itself. 13.2 Describe the curriculum According to the Experimentalists and Pragmatists, the democratic tradition is a self-correcting tradition. As such, the social heritage of the past is not the focus of educational interest. Rather, the focus is for the good life now and in the future. In the Experimentalists and Pragmatists view, the curriculum of the education imparting institution must not exist apart from the social context. The subject matter of education is the tool for solving individual problems and as the individual learner is improved or reconstructed, society is improved in similar fashion. Therefore, the problems of democratic society must form the basis of the curriculum; and the means to resolve the problems of democratic institutions must also be included in the curriculum. Therefore, there must be: a. A social basis to the curriculum. b. Opportunity to practice democratic ideals. c. Democratic planning at every level of education. d. Group definition of common social goals. e. Creative means to develop new skills. f. Activity-centered and pupil-centered curriculum.

13.3 Describe the teaching and learning In Experimentalism and Pragmatism, learning is always considered to be an individual matter. Teachers ought not to try to pour the knowledge they have into the learners, because such efforts are fruitless. What each learner learns depends upon his own personal needs, interests, and problems. In other words, the content of knowledge is not an end in itself but a means to an end. Thus, a learner who is faced by a problem may be able to reconstruct his environment so as to solve this felt need. To help him the teacher must a. Provide experiences that will excite motivation. Field trips, films, records, and guest experts are examples of activities designed to awaken learner interest in an important problem. b. Guide the learner into formulating a specific definition of the problem. Because each learner approaches the problem from his own experiential background, the teachers should encourage the learners to formulate their own aims and goals. c. Plan with the class the individual and group objectives to be used in solving the problem. d. Assist the learners in collecting the information pertaining to the problem. Essentially, the teacher serves as a guide by introducing skills, understandings, knowledge, and appreciations through the use of books, compositions, letters, resource speakers, films, field trips, television, or anything else that may be appropriate. e. Evaluate with the class what was learned; how they learned it; what new information occurred; what each learner discovered for himself. 14. Explain “the whole act of reflective thoughts” as propounded by the pragmatist in teaching and learning Pragmatist stresses on the process of knowing or method of intelligence or scientific problem-solving process which involves the awareness of the problem, defining the

problem, gathering data, constructing a plan of action and finally experimenting the action that tests the hypothesis. To the pragmatist, the method of learning is the reflective thought. This is a scientific problem solving. There must be an awareness of a problem which disrupts the normal experience, followed by the empirical observation of matters of facts about the problem. New ideas are formulated or constructed to resolve the problem. A further step would be to determine logically the probable outcomes of acting on that idea. Lastly the idea would be put to work, tested it by experience according to consequences of action. 15. Compare and contrast between Realist axiology and Pragmatist axiology in education. Realist theories in standard of value are found (determined) by means of the act of reason. However, a value judgment is never considered to be factual; it is a subjective judgment based on feeling. Acceptable individual values are values that conform to the values of the prevailing opinion of society. The prevailing opinion of society reflects the status quo of social reality; and because the social reality represents the truth that is out there, beyond the mind, it is useful as a standard for testing the validity of individual values. In Pragmatists theory, values derive from the human condition. Because man is a part of his society, the consequences of his actions are either good or bad, according to their results. If the consequences prove worth while socially, then the value of the action is proven to be good. Thus, value in ethics and aesthetics depends upon the relative circumstances of the situation as it arises. Ultimate values cannot exist, for truth is always relative and conditional. Nevertheless, value judgments are useful as a means to an intelligent life that is successful, productive, and happy.

.